AAAAACC WITHAM THIRD DISTRICT INTERNAL DRAINAGE BOARD Minutes of the one hundredth meeting of Witham Third District Internal Drainage Board held on Tuesday, 19th September 2017 in Minting Village Hall at 10.30am. Present: Mr. R. Armstrong Cllr. T. Ashton Mr. J. Boyall Mr. B. Charlesworth Cllr. S. England Cllr. I. G. Fleetwood Mr. J. R. Garner Mr. R. P. Hairsine Cllr. G. Hewson Ms. J. F. Holland Mr. D. C. Hoyes MBE Mr. P. R. Hoyes (Chairman) Cllr. G. McNeill Mr. J. C. Smithson Mr. M. I. Thomas (Vice Chairman) Cllr. P. Vaughan Mr. T. Williams In attendance: Mrs. Jane Froggatt Chief Executive Miss. Jayne Flower Executive Assistant Mr. Steve Larter Finance Consultant Mr. Martin Shilling Director of Operations and Engineering Services 2562 Apologies for absence. Apologies for absence were received from Cllr. S. M. Avison, Mr I. M. Clark, Mr. W. S. Crane, Cllr. Mrs. S. Gorst, Cllr. W. H. Gray, Cllr. W. Grover, Mr. D. Jackson, Cllr. Mrs. F. M. Martin MBE, Mr I. R. Parker, Mr. P. A. Spilman, Mr. D. J. Straw and Mr. H. Ward. 2563 Declarations of Members’ Interests. Members nominated by the three Councils declared interests relating to respective Councils (East Lindsey District Council, West Lindsey District Council, and City of Lincoln Council). 2564 Chairman’s Announcements. The Chairman welcomed Cllr. Giles McNeill to membership of the Board and his first meeting. Cllr. McNeill has nominated by West Lindsey District Council, and his nomination fills the vacant seat the Board has carried for some time. 1360 He also welcomed new member Cllr. Tom Ashton, nominated by East Lindsey District Council and who replaces former member Cllr. Richard Avison. It was Cllr. Ashton’s first meeting but he had joined the Board in time to attend the Summer Inspection on Wednesday 19th July. Cllr. Ashton confirmed to members he is also a member of the Anglian (Northern) RFCC, as too is Cllr. Ian Fleetwood, which the Chairman highlighted as a useful link for the Board to have with two members who, in other capacities, serve on the RFCC. The Chairman advised members of the death of Mr. Mark Welsh, Lincolnshire County Council’s lead Highways Officer for Flood and Drainage. Mark died prematurely on 06th July, following a road traffic collision whilst he was attending a meeting in London. There was a large turnout for Mark’s funeral on 04th August and the Board was represented by Bob Fletcher, ADA Lincolnshire Branch Chairman, and Jane Froggatt. Mark was a big supporter of and friend to IDBs and instrumental in the Boards providing a consents and enforcements service for LCC in our extended catchments. 2565 Minutes of the Board Meeting, 30.05.17. The Minutes of the Board’s previous meeting held on Tuesday, 30th May 2017 were proposed, seconded and APPROVED as an accurate record. MATTERS ARISING: 2565.1 IDB1 Report (item 2556 refers): It was confirmed that the new IDB1 Report format had been received from Defra, completed and returned for 2016/17. It was highlighted that new questions on governance applied this year, including average attendance of members. 2566 Minutes of the Standing Committee Meeting, 09.05.17. The minutes of the Standing Committee meeting held on Tuesday, 05th September 2017 were proposed by Mr Bob Armstrong, seconded by Mr Dennis Hoyes and APPROVED as an accurate record and the recommendations to the Board were NOTED. MATTERS ARISING: There were no matters arising. 2567 Minutes of the Joint Services Committee Meeting, 24.07.17. The minutes of the Joint Services Committee meeting held on Monday, 24th July 2017 were received and noted. MATTERS ARISING: 2567.1 Letter from JBA Consulting regarding NEL Board (minute 6.3 refers): It was confirmed that no response from JBA had yet been received to the rebuttal of their challenge to the model of Joint Services between the four Boards rather than a procurement process by NELDB. 1361 2567.2 Internal Audit Services (minute 8 refers): Members were advised that the ADA Lincolnshire Branch had accepted the Committee’s suggestion of the benefits of a 50% / 50% split between quality and price for the evaluation of tenders for the joint procurement exercise for Internal Audit Services. Tenders were due in on Monday 18th September and the evaluation process would begin shortly. 2567.3 Potential “Strapline” for the collective group of four Drainage Boards (minute 11 refers): It was highlighted to members that whilst it was duly agreed, following a vote, that the new strapline for the four Boards would be “Witham and Humber Drainage Boards”, it was emphasized that the four Boards would remain separate legal entities and for Business purposes their individual entities, websites, headed paper etc would all be retained. 2568 Chief Executive’s Report. The Chief Executive’s Report had been circulated with the agenda. Items highlighted included the official opening of Horncastle Flood Alleviation Scheme on 28th July 2017. Paul Hoyes and Denis Hoyes had attended the opening as too had Board member Fiona Martin (for Horncastle Town Council). It was noted that the reservoir, upstream of Horncastle on the River Bain, is now fully operational providing a 1 in 100 year standard of protection and reducing the volume of water by temporarily holding water during high flows. The scheme reduces the risk of flooding to 169 homes and businesses. Members received and NOTED the Chief Executive’s report. 2569 External Auditors’ Notice of Closure on the IDB Annual Return 2016/17. The Chief Executive reported that since the agenda had been posted, the formal Notice of Closure on the IDB Annual Return for 2016/17 had been received from the External Auditors, Grant Thornton. Pleasingly, there was no qualification and also this year there were no “other matters to report to the Board”. The formal Notice of Closure was now published on the Board’s website, at Witham House and in the drainage district at the Board’s Woodhall Spa depot. This concluded work on the financial year 2016/17 and both the Chairman and Chief Executive thanked Mr Steve Larter for his work on the financial closure for 2016/17. 2570 Financial Performance Report 2016/17 to 31.08.17. The Financial Performance Report to 31st August 2017, month five of 2017/18 had been circulated with the agenda. Members were reminded that as Witham Third is the lead Board in terms of Joint Services between the now four Boards, there is a much higher spend. However recharges are made to the other three Boards as appropriate. As this was the first financial performance report of the financial year, some of the budget profiles may need refining to better reflect the actual profile of spend as the financial year progresses. These have mainly been based upon last year’s actual spend by period. 1362 The financial performance as at 31st August 2017 was summarised as: Profiled Budget P5 Actual Variance £ (Surplus)/Deficit £ £ (14,758) (9,639) 5,119 Whilst the Board was currently showing a modest negative position against budget of (£14,758), there were no areas of concern and members were advised that this was an excellent position to be in at this point in the financial year. Members were reminded that it is early in the financial year and some of the ‘high risk’ spend areas have not yet been incurred (e.g. overtime during cutting season, and electricity during winter months). The Finance Consultant then outlined the detail behind the summary position. • Income (£19k) The main income streams had been posted in terms of Drainage Rates raised (not necessarily paid) and Special Levies received in May for the first half year payment. The second Special Levy half year payment by the three Councils is due in November. Rechargeable Works are being undertaken again for the EA with income received monthly ‘on account’ rather than in lump sums when works are completed. Therefore, the Rechargeable works income is currently (£17k) ahead of target, based on the invoice profile being followed. Highland Water claims had been submitted to the Environment Agency for 2016/17 actual costs, with a further balance of (£37,362) due and for the 2017/18 Estimated claim (£175,000). Of this, 80% of the estimated claim for 2017/18 (£140,000) will be paid in September 2017 along with the balance for the 2016/17 actual claim (£37,362). The balance adjusted for the actual 2017/18 claim will be payable the following September 2018 by the EA. • Board & General Administration spend variation was £1k, being the additional insurance costs for Cyber Liability cover. • One off Schemes £0k - On target. • Conservation (£1k) - On target. • Depot £12k - Additional works to provide a new depot mess room for Operatives and associated shower / lavatory and wet gear drying facilities. • Drains (£10k) and Pumping Stations £2k – Wages & Plant Holding Account (6k), overall net (£14k).There are savings on electricity (£7k), CCTV surveys (£3k), and fuel (£2k). • Joint Admin/Witham House £21k The first three months’ invoices for 2017/18 as at 30.06.17 had been produced and paid by the four Boards. The next invoices will be prepared at the end of September 2017. The Joint Services Committee monitors these budgets and at the last quarter end there was overall minimal variance. The main variance for this Board is the replaced Team Secretary position, which is still budgeted in Upper Witham IDB but is now employed via Witham Third DIDB in accordance with the Joint Services Agreement. The costs are still reapportioned quarterly via the joint services recharges 1363 so will equal out by 31.03.18 and the budgets will be realigned in the 2018/19 Budget setting process.